As someone who has been around accident-prone children their whole life, when Freckles offered me the chance to attend a paediatric first aid course, I jumped at the chance! I’m also currently working part-time in a tearoom and have witnessed little ones running into tables full of teapots, so for me, being clued up on what to do in an emergency was important. That, and the fact I’d burnt myself baking scones only the day before!

Huge thanks to Dr Maryhan Baker who is our guest blogger this month, and who will be giving a talk on Identifying Anxiety in Child on Thursday 17 November at Clifton College, Bristol. More details about the event can be found here. Tickets are just £18.

There has been a great deal of focus on children’s mental health in recent years with statistics now showing one in four children will experience a significant mental health challenge before the age of sixteen years. With these stark statistics as a background it can be very difficult as a parent to establish whether your child is experiencing any difficulties and how to help them if they are.

Although many of us like the idea of spending more time as a family, in reality doesn’t happen as often as we’d like it to. There are many pressures on family life that prevent us from doing simple things like having dinner together or actually making time to sit, listen and talk to our children. Long commutes, the increasing number of smartphones and tablets in households, and generally hectic lives all play a part in parents and children spending less time together as a family.

On the 3rd September Jamie Oliver launched a government petition for a 7p tax on fizzy drinks, in an effort to lower the risk of type two diabetes, obesity, unnecessary teeth operations and amputations.